Charalambos Apostolidis

Charalambos Apostolidis was born in 1962, in the city of Thessaloniki and grew up in Sidirokastro of Serres. He graduated from the Palatideian Highschool of Sinteke and studied Law and Political Sciences in the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. He is a member of Areios Pagos, the Supreme Court of Greece for civil and criminal law.

He did his internship on European Law in Brussels, and attended seminars on financial criminal law in Philadelphia. He operates as an unpaid legal advisor for the Ecumenical Patriarchate, handling the BENELUX zone of responsibility, and as an unpaid legal advisor to the Bishop of France. He personally participated, as the solicitor of the Patriarchate, in the «Application de la Loi» decree of the King of Belgium, for the recognition of the Orthodox Church in Belgium as equal with other churches, under the supervision of the Archbishop of BENELUX Panteleimon.

He is also an unpaid legal advisor of the Hellenic American National Council (HANC) - Hellenic American Congress and of the organizations of the Diaspora “Hellenic News of America” in the USA. Milestones in his legal career include the trials for the Yakovlev plane crash in Pieria, the abduction of the former President of F.I.N.G. , the composer Akis Panou, Balkan Export industry, the defense of victims of bus accidents in the Tempe and Aliakmonas and many others.

He is the general secretary of the Foundation “Panagia Soumela” (Madonna of Melas) and the President of the Panhellenic Federation of Pontian Associations (P.O.P.S). For many years he has been struggling alongside all Pontian Greeks in order to raise international awareness for the Pontian Issue (genocide). He has made repeated representations to the UN headquarters in New York and the European Parliament, where he had an active role in the drafting of the resolution of the European Parliament led by the Vice President of the European Parliament Prof. Trakatellis and the leader of the PASOK parliamentary group, Mr. Lambrinidis.

In August 2010 he participated as president of POPS and general secretary of the Panagia Soumela foundation in the (after 88 years of non-operation) reopening of the Holy Monastery of Panagia Soumela in Trabzon of Pontos, under the supervision of the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew. He has been the general secretary of FC PAOK and a member of the Committee for Combating Violence in Sports. As a lawyer he has defended the rights of Thessaloniki sports teams.

For his actions, he has been honored with awards from the Ecumenical Patriarch, the Bishop of Panama and South America, the Bishop and the Archbishop France Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg. He has also received honorary distinctions from numerous other Greek and international organizations.

He also participated in the historic mission of the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew for the establishment and inauguration of the church of St. Nicholas in Havana, Cuba, and had on this matter contacts with the historic Cuban leader Fidel Castro and the Minister of Culture Mr. Leal.